Page 54 of Queen of Volts

“But is it worth the risk?” Enne shot back, grabbing her coat and storming toward the door. Before she left, she turned to him one last time. “The world has never given me any choice in this, but I never thought that you’d be one to take it away from me, too.”

LOLA

“Do you believe there’s such a thing as bad blood?” the Bargainer asked Lola as the two girls drove through the crowded streets of the Casino District on a workday morning, the slush along the curbs littered with cigarette butts and muddied party streamers. The Bargainer white-knuckled the edge of the passenger door, her pale face tinted a putrid shade of green, and Lola didn’t know whether to be proud or affronted that even the greatest legend of New Reynes was no match for her driving.

“I don’t,” Lola answered. Just because her family had all gone rotten didn’t mean she would—or so she hoped. “And I don’t want to talk about this. Grace told me that Justin is still alive.” And so Lola was going to pick him up, before Enne changed her mind and murdered him, after all.

“I wasn’t talking about your brother,” the Bargainer said.

Despite Lola’s deal the day before, she had spent much of the last night explaining to her companion the rules of Bryce’s game, describing as much as she knew about the other players, making herself useful so the Bargainer would keep her alive. But Lola knew the girl wasn’t thick. The only reason she hadn’t asked Lola which card she owned was because she’d already guessed.

“I thought you wanted to know all this,” the Bargainer goaded. “You traded something precious for it.”

“I do, but I...I’m driving—”

“No, you just think I’m going to kill you once the bargain is fulfilled.”

Lola nearly swerved off Tropps Street. “That’s not true,” she lied.

“I’m not going to kill you because you’re going to give your card to me. You’ll give it to me because you need a friend just as much as I do.” Clearly Lola’s empty bravado had made an impression on her. But ultimately, those words weren’t true. Lola had been alone long before she’d met Enne, and she could manage fine now.

“Fine, then,” Lola said. “Tell me.”

“I’ll tell you, but it’s more fun if you try to guess. I think you will, after a while,” she said.

Lola had enough on her mind imagining what she’d say to Enne when she faced her, when she took her brother and left and didn’t look back. Enne couldn’t force her to stay—not even with the oath—but that didn’t mean Lola could avoid a confrontation.

“This isn’t a game—”

“Isn’t it, though?” the Bargainer said. She shot Lola a wry smile, but it quickly fell when Lola skidded around a corner. She clutched at her stomach. “Maybe you’re the one trying to kill me.”

The idea of it was so absurd that Lola snorted. “Canyou die?”

Then the Bargainer leaned out the window and vomited, and Lola figured the answer was yes.

She parked at the curb. “Thanks for not getting sick in my car.”

The girl leaned back in her seat, her eyes closed and her lips pursed. “Arabella. You can call me Arabella.”

Lola might have made a deal with the Devil, but that didn’t mean she wanted to be on a first name basis. “Did you take that name?” According to legends, names were a common thing to bargain away—names, memories, talents.

Arabella opened one eye—the red of it made Lola shiver. “Maybe. Maybe I even took this face.” When Lola grimaced, Arabella added, “I know the way the legends describe me, like I’m so old I witnessed the Casino District being built. But I’m not ancient. And I go byshe.” Then Arabella opened the passenger door and stumbled out, wrapping her peacoat tighter around herself. “We’re walking the rest of the way.”

Lola didn’t argue. Madame Fausting’s was only a mile away now, at most.

As they set off, Arabella said, “The Duke of Raddington’s bastard child—he was Enne’s father.”

Lola had enough of a passion for history to know the title the Duke of Raddington was bestowed on the spouse of the crown princess, daughter of the queen of Reynes. Like all royalty, he was a Mizer, and he died by hanging in Liberty Square, a week after his wife.

“I believe his mother kept her son hidden to avoid scandal,” Arabella explained. “So Enne’s father would’ve been around thirteen when the Revolution began.”

Which would’ve made him only a couple years older than Lola when Enne was born.

“Is he still alive?” Lola asked breathlessly.

“No. He died a long time ago, after he tricked me. He made a bargain that no one who’d known him would be able to speak the truth of who he was.” Lola recalled Zula cryptically telling her that she couldn’t divulge the past. Now Lola knew the reason—Zula literally couldn’t. “Your bargain has overridden that one, at least between the two of us.” Arabella grinned. “So maybe it’s me who finally won, in the end.Youdidn’t know him. Finally someone can spill his secrets.”

“And his name?”